It was fate
by mauururu
Summary: In a dark period where Clerics and Demons are on war, fate has been set to a tragic love story.


please listen to this while reading! helps set the mood 3

watch?v=EE6OXD…

"When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different, someone better. When that person is taken from you, what do you become then?"

XXXX A.D.

Nothing too interesting ever happened in my village. Living among commoners, our biggest excitements were when the richer ones came passing by to refil their stocks of vegetables and other goods our villagers could offer them in exchange of army protection, and tax payments.

That's why when 'they' appeared, everything changed.

They were a somewhat large group of young men. Their leader, who although his youthful appearance, held an imponent position, took a quick interest in our small country for their explorings.

Those foreingers seemed to have the power to summon all villagers, and even the richer parts to come and greet them. They were offered gifts of the most varieties; from veggetables, to animals, and even big fortunes. The foreingers, however, didn't seem to care much about material things; rather, they gathered more and more people everyday to their big balls, hosted in the newly rented mannor at the top of the countryside mountains.

There, those who joined, claimed to have see the most wonderful things the world can offer; rich red wines, smooth silk clothes, in the company of such delightful hosts.

However, in the smaller areas where the visitors had yet to come, a conspiracy lingered in the air; The Cleric has made prophecies about the newcomers; an omen, if you'd like.

They are not who they seem to be; they are amongst us to bring fall to mankind; Enslaving, corrupting, one by one, each one of us, leading the world to eternal punishment.

There were reports of lands in the far east being consumed by lust and later on the rage of the Lord.

Could that be happening in our village?

As the days passed, our small country, which was once peaceful, became divided with hostility. Those who worshipped the newcomers had become more aggressive, while the Cleric and the believers were even stronger in their assumptions of how bad the situation was, and the fact the omen was truly becoming our fate.

Our village became poorer as the houses over the mount grew with fortunes and army power. The times grew darker as winter came, because nights lasted longer, which seemed to just lure villagers to the outskirts.

I always lived far from everything; having no family but my father, I was sent in my early days to isolation, to be taught and raised by nuns, with my own fate sealed before my birth. I was to marry the son of the high priest, who would later take on his father's duties.

My life had always been quite lonely and quiet... Until the first strike happened.

"This has come too far, we must take actions!" I heard men speaking in a small conference room. Together with all young women from our village, we waited imaptiently. "They first took our fortunes.. Took our resources, and even the richer abided to their behaviour! Those who were kind to us in the past, are bewitched by this luxury the 'others' have imposed in our livings. However, we will not bow down to them! We will not allow them to take any more of us!"

I heard that familiar voice. Just by hearing him made me shudder; The man whom I was to marry, and heir of Clerics, Lord Cardiner.

He was the one to summon the strongest, the wealthiest men of our village after what happened; A young girl had been drawn to the depths of the forest, never to be seen again. Some said they saw a red glow in the forest when it happened. Her inconsolable mother claimed she saw the tall figure of a man, who she assumes, seduced her daughter into going far into the mountains with them.

After that, all women have been summoned to the Great Cathedral, where it is said to be a sacret place, where the 'others' could not reach.

"I am truly envious of her though" One of the girls spoke. I was never one to crowds, so I just listened from a distance as the other women socialized. "To be able to join the esplendor of the mountains with them.. How dreamy!"

She was quickly shut by her mother, who gave her a disapproval glare.

"How dare you say such things, Edith? Do you not have any respect at all for the place we reside? Or the efforts of Cleric to keep us all safe?" She paused. "Poor Lucy, may god have mercy of her soul."

As they spoke, the other room went quiet. Seemed like men had decided not to continue their discussions after all was settled. They would form an equiped team not only of strong men, but the most capable of the Clerics, on a cruzade onto the Mounts, to purify and free those in the domains of the 'others'.

"And for those of us who go against our wills of bringing them back? What about those who stand against us and side with the others?" Someone inquired.

"God will guide us to the right path" Cardiner said. "And if during our journey, innocent blood must be spill.. Then this is the will of God."

As the days grew colder, so did the people of our village. All the efforts into seeking for Lucy in the forest were in vain; None of us were allowed outside of the Cathedral, and that drove some of the more.. Free spirited girls, crazy.

"Do not tell my mother, I will just go for a stroll" Edith whispered at us, after we were set to bed in our small room, which could barely fit the seven of us.

I honestly was relieved for her leaving; Edith was always a brat. I wasn't a fan of Cardiner, but for the sake of our village, we should follow and respect his efforts of keeping us away from all evil, but she would always nag her mother how she missed the outside world.

Some tried to persuade Edith to stay; and others followed her. And there they went, Edith, followed by Beth, and Ellen.

There were only four of us left in the room. None of us spoke about it, but we sighed in relief as we saw the three girls coming back a couple hours after.

Their nightly strolls continued, night after night. We got used to make sure none of the Clerics, nuns, or eldery ever realized they were gone. It was night time anyways, nobody would take notice.

Not until that day, that is.

"My daughter! My beloved Edith! Where could she be?" Mistress Cornwell yelled in tears. During one of the night strolls, all three girls never returned.

My father, the headchief of the army looked at me curiously; He had knowledge of the fact that all girls in our room were aware of their disappearance, and just shook his head in disapprovement as he left with a group of men , searching for Edith and the others.

Hours passed as the night fell, and there was no sign of return of the men, neither the three girls. The priest tried to comfort the inconsolable women as they cried , only imagining what could've had happened to the girls. Edith's mother especially, knowing that her daughter was a wild spirited young woman, had lost all hopes already; Knowing that she would seek to go over the mountains.

I remained apathetic; In all honestly, I was much more terrified than I seemed, but being the daughter of the army chief, and engaged to the Cleric heir, I was supposed to keep my posture, to at least give hope to them. The truth was simple though; At first I hadn't bothered to notice how badly the situation we were in was; and now with people disappearing, being taken away, that was worrysome.

Nobody else seemed to care, but the rich, who used to only pay visits to the mannor over the mountains, also stopped returning to their own sites. It was like all was abandoned, left to dust, and what was left of our once prosperous contry was merely surviving now.

A couple years had passed, and I was now seventeen. My marriage with Lord Cardiner had the postponed, due to the fact that more and more casualties started happening. Bodies of army men had been found through the woods, animals started getting ill, and finally, a warning had been set; If you want to live, do not come beyond the forest.. Unless invited.

Nobody knew what that meant; Those words written in vivid red tint were there, but Clerics couldn't just accept it. After all efforts to break and reach into the Mannor of the Others, would they just have to surrender to whatever evil that was there?

Cardiner, who usually posed to be a self centered, calm and collected man was on the verge of madness; His late father, may god rest his soul, entrusted him on his last days, to keep the holy work of Clerics, and to get rid of the evil over the mountains, for once and for all.

Along the years, many other women were taken. There were only a few of us left by now. One by one, being drawn to the depths of the woods, they vanished to never return.

I thought that the end had drawn near; As I looked outside the windows, I heard a familiar voice.

"Miranda" It said faintly, almost in a whisper. "Come, Miranda, come play with us!"

It was Beth, one of the first girls to go missing. Beth and I were never really close, but I liked her company, because she always made some efforts to keep me around with the other girls. I could hear her cheerful voice, almost silently, as if it was only speaking to me.

I jumped on my seat, startled as I heard a sound that I haven't for over two years now. Nobody else seemed to have noticed, and soon after, everything went quiet once again.

I couldn't help but continuosly thinking of what had happened earlier that day. Was it really Beth? Was she and the others okay? I couldn't know. My fear was bigger than my curiosity, and so I did not dare to leave the Cathedral.

It was very lonely as the day passed, because the men were constantly in cruzades to other lands, recruiting more help to the journey to the Mountains. The women had strict orders of staying inside the Cathedral, and never go around without wearing a cross necklace; a lucky charm to keep the evil away.

After unstopable efforts and mysterious, unexplicable deaths, the Cleric men and those in the army managed to gather enough help and information about the Mountains;

"The omen was right. In foreign countries, the visitors are called "evil". Our brave Cleric in comand Cardiner manage to infiltrate the outskirts of the Mountains Mannor, and what he saw-"

"Enough, chief." He snapped at my father, who quietly moved back to give room to Cardiner (and his ego, I suppose). "The truth is that none of us will ever be safe while the intruders live in our lands. However, how could we kill them... If they come from the land of death?"

There were exasperated gasps and protests all over the room. Even the strongest men seemed to shriek a bit by hearing Cardiner's serious tone. He proceded, holding his cross staff tightly.

"The creatures there residing are Demons; Creatures from the land of death, sent upon us to tempt mankind. God has unleashed his wrath upon lands that succumbed to said temptations. Centuries it can last even; So we mustn't give in to them. We will fight them" He paused, and looked at me. "For the sake of the women, children and even the forest animals, we must fight our owns to be able to destroy the evil forces that there reside."

I looked at him, in shock as he walked to my father and grabbed his arm abruptly.

"Those who have been in contact and succumb to the Demon's powers are marked" He lowered his voice at my father, who quickly looked away. Quiet whispers and a small commotion started; was Cardiner going insane, rebeling against the chief of the army?

"Ah! Let go, Cardiner!" My eyes widened as my father groaned at Cardiner's grasp. He was barely holding him, but it my father seemed to be in strong pain.

"It's as I thought" The Cleric said, Lifting father's sleeve; A strong, dark mark was engraved on his arm. "What did you do? What did they give you, Runolf?" He raised his voice. "Everyone, step back, Runolf has been corrupted!"

A big commotion errupted in the room as the sub Clerics approached Cardiner and circled my father, while army men pushed all people outwside the great room; I was panicking as I saw my father's arm almost burning with black flames, and tried my best to push through the people. In between so much voices, my cries and pleas couldn't be heard, and just before the thick, tall doors were closed in front of me, I caught a glimpse of my father's last moments, before a white flame circle was cast around them.

Much was spoken after that; the Head Cleric was nowhere to be seen, together with his right hand man, and a few others, they had disappeared. Only a few priests were left in the Cathedral, explaining what had just happened; My father, chief of army, had made a contract with one of the Demons from the Mannor during one of their expeditions. As much warnings they all got not to trespass their woods, Clerics and high rank army men had enough holy protection to go, but because of my father's greed, he had a downfall.

I wasn't paying attention to none of that; The only person whom I could call family was taken away from me. I couldn't care less whatever reasons were that my father had encountered a Demon, was it truly necessary for that to happen like this? What had become of our village..?

I just couldn't think straight. I knew one thing I had to do though; I needed to find Cardiner, and find the one who caused my father's death.


End file.
